Doll with head and eye animating mechanism



Jan. 3, 1967 R. GARDEL ETAL 3,295,253

DOLL WITH HEAD AND EYE ANIMATING MECHANISM Original Filed June 1.7, 19645 h ets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS ROBERT GARDEL EGON1 GORSKY 7 J' I 1" M r wwmATTORNEYS 1967 R. GARDEL ETAL DOLL WITH HEAD AND EYE ANIMATING MECHANISM5 Sheets-Sheet :2

Original Filed June l7, 1964 INVENTORS ROBERT GARDEL EGON GORSKY M MWZWXATTORNEYS Jan. 3, 1967 R. GARDEL ETAL DOLL WITH HEAD AND EYE ANIMATINGMECHANISM 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 1 Original Filed June l7, 1964 INVENTORSROBERT GARDEL EGON GORSKY United States Patent 3,295,253 DELL WITH HEADAND EYE ANTMATTNG MEHANHSM Robert Gardel, 11 Riverside Drive, New York,N.Y. 10023, and Egon Gorsky, 365 E. 46th St, Brooklyn, ELY. 11220(Briginai application June 17, 1964, Ser. No. 375,803, new Patent No.3,230,666, dated Jan, 25, 1966. Divided and this application (Bet. 20,1965, Ser. No. 508,887

3 (Iiaims. (til. 46-135) This application is a division of ourco-pending application Ser. No. 375,803, filed June 17, 1964, entitledDoll Animating Mechanism, now Patent No. 3,230,666.

This invention relates to a doll animating mechanism and particularly toa mechanism for imparting motion to the head and eyes of a doll.

An object of the invention is to provide an adaptation of the mechanismshown in Katz Patent No. 3,029,552, April 17, 1962, to a doll having amolded plastic body and a molded plastic head associated therewith.

A further object is to provide means whereby the eyes of the doll, whichclose in a normal manner when the doll is in a reclining position, canbe opened intermittently as the mechanism moves the head to differentpositions.

Another object is to provide certain improvements in the form,construction, arrangement and material of the several elements wherebythe above named and other objects may effectively be attained.

In Patent No. 3,029,552, cited above, the head moving mechanism is shownas being installed in a doll body which is soft and filled withstuffing, the head being securely tied in the neck opening of the bodyso that it can be given a rotary rocking motion without being free torotate with respect to the body. When the body and head are both ofrelatively stiff molded plastic it is necessary to provide differentmeans for restricting the rotation of the head, and the means shownherein operates very satisfactorily.

A practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 represents a left side elevation of the mechanism installed in adoll, parts of whch are cut away to show the mechanism and parts beingshown in section;

FIG, 2 represents a detail perspective view of the mechanism, includingindications of the paths followed by certain moving parts;

FIG. 3 represents a detail vertical section through one of the eyes,with the doll in erect position and the eye open, the section beingtaken on the line Ill-III of FIG. 4;

FIG. 4 represents a deail vertical section taken on the line IVIV ofFIG. 3;

FIG. 5 represents a left side elevation similar to FIG. 1 but with thedrive shaft turned 180, to its forward position, and

FIG. 6 represents a detail vertical section through an eye with the dollin reclining position, the eye being normally closed and means foropening it being shown.

Referring to the drawings, the doll is shown as having a molded plasticbody 1 provided wlth a neck opening 2. The head 3 is also moldedplastic, being hollow and provided with a neck portion 4 which fits inthe opening 2 with sufficient clearance to permit movement as describedbelow. A spring motor 5, designed to be wound up by means of the knob 6projecting from the back of the body, is fixed to the body, as by meansof a rivet 7 or the like which may also hold in place an angular bracket8. A drive shaft 9 projects upwardly "ice from the motor 5 and passesthrough openings in the lower horizontal part of the bracket 8 and inthe upper horizontal part of said bracket, as indicated at 8 and 8.

A short distance above the upper horizontal part of the bracket, thedrive shaft 9 is bent slightly so that its upper portion 9' constitutesan angularly offset shaft extension on which the neck portion 4 of thehead is rotatably mounted. Rotation of the head 'with respect to thebody is restricted by the provision of a pin 10' fixed in the neckportion 4 a short distance in front of the drive shaft 9 and projectingdownwardly into a. slot 11 in the upper horizontal part of the bracket.The parts just described make possible the rotary rocking motion of thehead according to the principle illustrated in the above cited PatentNo. 3,029,552, the axis of the extension 9 following a path indicated bythe dotted circle P in FIG. 2 and the bottom of the pin 10 following asubstantially elliptical path between the upper and lower horizontalparts of the bracket 9 indicated by the line E in FIG. 2, while the headas a whole is restrained from rotation with respect to the body by theengagement of the pin 10 in the slot 11.

In the conventional eye mechanism shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 6,hemispherical eye element 12 is supported at opposite points 13, 13 forrotation in the partially spherical socket 14 around a horizontal axis.A weight 15 is connected to the lower rear part of the eye element sothat the eye is normally held in the open position shown in FIG. 3 whenthe doll is more or less erect. When the doll is moved to a recliningposition the weight 15 normally causes the eye to close, as shown inFIG. 6. The mechanism shown herein includes means for causing thenormally closed eyes to open and close again, intermittently, as thedoils head is slowly moved in its rotary rocking course.

Back of each eye element there is provided a tubular bearing 16, thebore of which is aligned with a part of the eye element slightly belowthe axis thereof. A small rod 17 is slidably carried in each bearing 16and is designed to be urged away from the eye element, as by a spring18. A mounting strip 19 is fixed to the head, conveniently at a pointbetween the eye sockets, and extends upward in the head, while a secondstrip 20 is loosely connected to the strip 19 as by a loose river 21 ata point below the tops of said strips. A short double headed shaft 22passes loosely through the spaced upper ends of the strips 19 and 24 oneend of said shaft being provided with a spring 23 so located as to pullthe upper ends of the strips toward each other, thus tending to urge thelower part of the strip 20 in a direction away from the front of thehead. The strip 20 is provided with a flat plate 24 which is wide enoughand so located as to bear against the rear ends of the rods 17 when itis moved forward.

A driving connection between the drive shaft 9 and the eye openingmechanism just described includes a small block 25 fixed to the upperend of the shaft extension 9', an eccentrically projecting stub shaft 26fixed in the block 25, l nk 27 loosely engaging the shaft 26, and aloose rivet 28 connecting the link 27 to the lower end of the strip Ztl.

In the operation of this mechanism, caused by the rotation of shaft 9,the stub shaft 26 follows a circular path indicated by the line P". Thismotion of the shaft 26 is communicated through the link 27 to the strip20 which is thus moved toward and away from the front of the doll head.When the strip 20 is moved toward the front, the plate 24 pushes thesmall rods 17 forward, compressing the springs 18 and bringing the frontends of the rods 17 into a position such that the eyes, if closed, willbe caused to open. If the eyes are already open, as shown in FIG. 3, therods 17 have no effect.

If the doll is reclining so that the eyes are closed, as shown in FIG.6, the forward motion of the rods 17 causes the eye elements to rotateto the open position, as indicated by the dotted lines in FIG. 6.

Since the head and eye motions described above are naturally associatedwith the acts of a sleepy baby, it is appropriate to include in themotor unit a music box which may play an appropriate tune such as alullaby. The total effect of pleasant music, rotary rocking motion ofthe head and opening and closing of eyes (when the doll is reclining) isunusual and very appealing.

1 It will be apparent that variations in the mechanical parts canreadily be made, as by substituting levers of one class for those ofanother class, pulling the eyes open instead of pushing them open,varying the positions of the pin 10 and slot 11, etc., while stillobtaining the same desired result in a similar manner. By locating therods 17 slightly higherabove the axes of the eyes-the eyes can be causedto close intermittently from their normally open position, as when thedoll is sitting up or standing. It may also be noted that the eyeoperating mechanism can be installed in the soft bodied doll of thecited Katz patent, where the parts 8, l0 and 11 are not needed, whilethe head moving mechanism (including said parts) can be usedadvantageously in a molded plastic doll even without providing for theopening of the eyes. It is most desirable, however, to provide both therotary rocking motion of the head and the slow intermittent opening andclosing of the eyes.

It will be understood that "arious changes may be made in the form,construction and arrangement of the several parts without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention, and hence we do not intend to belimited to the details shown or described herein except as the same areincluded in the claims or may be re quired by disclosures of the priorart.

What we claim is:

1. In combination with a doll having a body and a head which is movablewith respect to said body and is provided with gravity-closable eyes, amotor fixed within said body, a drive shaft extending vertically fromthe motor into the head and adapted to be driven by the motor, part ofsaid drive shaft being angularly offset from the axis of rotation of theshaft and said offset part of the shaft being journaled in a part of thehead, means for limiting the rotation of the head with respect to thebody, means operatively connected to the offset part of the shaft forintermittently causing the eyes to open from a normallyclosed position,said eyeopening means including a part which is movable into contactwith a gravity-closed eye element with force sufficient to overcome theeffect of gravity on said element, a plate mounted in the head formovement toward and away from the eyes, and a crank connection betweenthe offset part of the drive shaft and said plate for causing saidmovement, the plate being arranged to actuate the movable eye-contactingpart.

2. In combination with a. doll having a body and a head which is movablewith respect to said body and is provided with a gravity actuated eyeelement, a motor fixed within said body, a drive shaft extending fromthe motor into the head and adapted to be driven by the motor, part ofsaid drive shaft being angularly offset from the axis of rotation of theshaft and said offset part of the shaft being journaled in a part of thehead thereby to eifect relative movement between the head and body uponrotation of the shaft, means operatively connected to the offset part ofthe shaft for intermittently causing movement of the eye element, saidmeans comprising a reciprocable part which is operable to actuate saideye element, a member mounted in the head for movement toward and awayfrom the eye element and arranged to effect actuation of thereciprocable part, and driving connection means between the offset shaftand said member'for causing the aforesaid movement of said memberthereby to move said eye element with a force sufficient to overcome theeffect of gravity on said eye element.

3. The combination according to claim 2 further comprising meanspivotally mounting said member within the head of the doll, said drivingconnection means pivoting said member about said mounting means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,831,602 11/1931Maby 46-168 2,301,431 11/1942 Marcus. 2,565,603 9/1951 Fraysur 46-169 X2,954,639 10/1960 Walss 46120 3,029,552 4/1962 Katz 46120 FOREIGNPATENTS 9,811 1894 Great Britain.

RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

LOUIS J. BOVASSO, Examiner.

2. IN COMBINATION WITH A DOLL HAVING A BODY AND A HEAD WHICH IS MOVABLEWITH RESPECT TO SAID BODY AND IS PROVIDED WITH A GRAVITY ACTUATED EYEELEMENT, A MOTOR FIXED WITHIN SAID BODY, A DRIVE SHAFT EXTENDING FROMTHE MOTOR INTO THE HEAD AND ADAPTED TO BE DRIVEN BY THE MOTOR, PART OFSAID DRIVE SHAFT BEING ANGULARLY OFFSET FROM THE AXIS OF ROTATION OF THESHAFT AND SAID OFFSET PART OF THE SHAFT BEING JOURNALED IN A PART OF THEHEAD THEREBY TO EFFECT RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN THE HEAD AND BODY UPONROTATION OF THE SHAFT, MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO THE OFFSET PART OFTHE SHAFT FOR INTERMITTENTLY CAUSING MOVEMENT OF THE EYE ELEMENT,